The Shadow
by natblue
Summary: The famous assassin Annabeth is assigned her deadliest mission yet. If she succeeds all of her dreams will be fulfilled, but if she fails she will betray those who she calls friends. The choice should be simple, but she is not sure she's willing to make the sacrifice and then pay the price for her actions.
1. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 1

The Calm Before the Storm

The night was as dark as if someone had painted the sky with black paint, and the otherwise noisy city was silent. The windows glowed soothingly like small glowing squares against the pitch-black darkness, and the treacherous silence spread out like ripples on water after a stone had been dropped. What no one knew was that this stone was as false as the imaginary calm the city was engulfed in.

Just as quiet and invisible as the wind's whispering breaths, a shadow stalked around. The shadow easily dodged the posted guards who were scattered among the city's many streets and narrow alleys. The shadow's mission was simple, but never would the shadow do something like it again.

The shadow stepped into the light of a burning fire, though no longer with any of the mystery and deadly calm that previously surrounded it. A lady in a beautifully embroidered dress appeared, wrapped in a cloak and with a pleasant smile on her full and rosy lips. The woman's confidence should have made some questions arise, especially because she was alone in the night's darkest hour. But for the moment the guard - who was the woman's goal – sensed nothing. It was easy for her to get rid of him.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" her employer had asked her hoarsely.

"Do not insult me. I have performed far more difficult assignments when I was half of your age," had her sharp response been. Yes, she had been offended, but quickly pleased again when the sum he offered was more than enough for her to be able to go away for a while and live well. But to get the money, she had to perform the deed.

Time slowed down as she approached the great oak door. Outside there were two guards with spears raised to ward off intruders. During the few minutes it took for her to reach the great door she watched how one guard tensed when she approached, while the other retreated a couple of steps and raised his spear.

"Halt!" cried the first sentinel. The woman halted and raised an elegant eyebrow. "State your case!" he shouted. It was barely audible, but the woman detected a slight tremor in his voice. She allowed herself a quick smile that held no humor before she resumed her mask of icy calm.

The second guard raised his spear even more, and the woman watched him with grim delight as he turned to his companion and slammed the butt of the spear in his head. With a surprised grunt the guard fell down and his spear rattled loudly against the hard cobblestones.

"He's still alive," the woman noted while she observed her companion pull off his helmet and look at her seriously. "Should I be surprised?"

The man scratched his head. "You know our mission Annabeth, it says nothing about the guards." He hesitated, but then added, "He has a family too."

The woman - Annabeth - rolled her eyes but did not question her companion's decision. Instead, she swept past him and pushed the gate open. A voice stopped her. "Are you sure you can handle this?" This time Annabeth didn't give a sharp answer, she only turned around briefly and said: "Are you?"

Before the man could answer, she smoothly slipped through the door and slammed it shut with a final bang.


	2. Fall Like a Bird

Chapter 2

Fall Like a Bird

The castle's winding corridors was not foreign to Annabeth though she had never been within its walls. She had spent many nights studying maps of the castle's many traitorous passages. Now she could them as well as her own pocket.

Her dress she had thrown away as soon as she set foot inside the castle walls. Now she wore a loose tunic and a pair of black trousers, which made her blend in against the dark walls. Hidden inside the tunic she had two daggers, but if all went as planned, she would not have to use them. Even the sword she palmed with a skilled hand would have done its part by the time she needed a lethal weapon.

* * *

Annabeth was standing at the foot of a staircase in wood. With light footsteps she sneaked up, and grimaced when it groaned. In Annabeth's ears the stair's moans of protest sounded as loud as if someone was shouting and screaming.

At the end of the stairs were only a single candle holder and a window. But Annabeth was prepared for this. She loosened a rope that she had earlier tied around her waist and beat a complicated knot around her sword. She secured the rope around her waist and made sure that there was not the slightest chance that the knot would loosen, before she climbed up on the window sill in a low position. Just as quietly as a cat she watched the sleeping city with her steel-gray eyes. Layer upon layer of darkness folded around her like the robes she had previously thrown in a corner.

Suddenly a sound cut through the silence. A whistle that sounded so much like a bird that if someone other than Annabeth have heard it, they wouldn't have noticed the difference. But Annabeth was experienced, she noticed. With a silent scream on her lips, she threw herself out in the air.


	3. Becoming the Dark

Chapter 3

Becoming the Dark

She sat crouched on the balcony which was under the window, she had just thrown herself out through. In the air above her head dangled the rope she had cut herself loose from. Although she knew what would happen, that she would safely soar above the balcony that belonged to her victims, she did not find any pleasure in jumping out four floors up in the air.

The sword she had tied in the other end of the rope had stop her from falling to her death, exactly as she had calculated. It had been wedged behind the candle holder that had been screwed tight to the wall. Although if the candlestick in some mysterious way would have come off, the window would have been too small for the sword to go through. But there was always a what if and a but, something that Annabeth couldn't allow herself to think about in that moment. Concentration was something she needed, and she could not let herself be distracted by what _could_ have happened.

She massaged her sore ribs that had received the blow from the rope when it had stopped with a sudden jerk, but did not complain. Things could have been worse. She could had been crushed against the hard ground below.

With practiced hands she took one of her two knives in hand, as she cautiously approached the balcony door which had been left slightly ajar. It was careless of them, she thought grimly, leaving the door open. So firm in their belief that no one could get into the castle. And least of all in a chamber without any visible entrances. Careless and stupid. But they would pay for their arrogance.

As a ghost, she slipped into the dimly lit chamber. She become a part of the darkness she imitated, and no living creature noticed her rampage. The chamber was at a first glance an empty circle round room, but Annabeth knew that somewhere there would be a hidden door to another room. And it was in that room that her targets were. A prince and a princess would fall for her hand. And with them a revolution would meet its end. It was nothing personal. Annabeth was far from interested in anything with politics, and did not usually interfered in royal affairs. If the circumstances would have been different, she would not even have accepted this particular mission. It was a rule she had been holding on to since the day she started to use assassination as a profession. Not too important people would end up on her list, thus she did not gain too powerful enemies. And enemies Annabeth had plenty of. But when her employer had come to her, her situation had been critical. She needed money quickly, something he could offer. And if a country had to pay the price for the crime that her hands would commit; what did Annabeth care about that? The country and the people she had called home and family had repeatedly turned their backs on her. Now it was Annabeth's turn, to show that you should never turn around when your enemy is right behind you. She would show that she had indeed been cast away like trash, like she was nothing worth. But she would also show them that she had survived, and that their fatal mistake would be to think that she would forget them. She would show them that she now belonged to their enemies, and that she would not hesitate if she ever got the chance to put a dagger in their backs.

The next day she would be long gone, and never return to this city's hateful streets.


	4. Of Shades and Shadows

Chapter 4

Of Shades and Shadows

When the secret door opened Annabeth was prepared. She had long been waiting for that moment to arrive. The moment when her chosen victims would be the most vulnerable. Because of the bright lights shining inside their protective chamber the dark clouding the room where Annabeth was hiding would feel twice as strong. They would not expect an attack, which would prove to be a fatal mistake.

The moment the door slammed shut and darkness again was all that existed Annabeth threw her dagger. She had memorized the guard's position – who had accompanied the two royalties – and did barely need to aim. With a thud she heard the dagger reach its goal. The rattle that followed showed that the guard's sword had been dropped to the wooden floor.

Against her will, Annabeth was impressed by the young princess. She had not screamed or fainted, something that Annabeth had actually anticipated. Instead, she stood with the fallen guard's sword in her hand, and the prince at her side.

"Who's there?" the prince demanded. "Show yourself!"

"Are you sure?" Annabeth purred with deadly calm. Secretly she enjoyed the scene. "I could very well be the last face you look at alive."

By this statement, the young princess laughed. "I highly doubt it," she said in a firm voice.

Annabeth snorted. "You want to play games, Princess? Do not play the hero, you will still face the same fate as your dear brother here. "

"Cousin," murmured the prince and shifted his footing. "Not brother. Cousin."

"Percy!" the princess hissed, glaring daggers at her cousin.

"Thalia!" Percy imitated in a high-pitched voice. "What? If she has been sent to kill us, it's not like she doesn't know how we're related. "

"I didn't," Annabeth remarked coldly. "But it doesn't matter to me if you're siblings, cousins or lovers." She gave Percy a dazzling smile. "I guess I'll just hope it doesn't run around more royalties who lives in secret chambers here at the castle." To her surprise, the prince only laughed by this statement.

"Do you know who it is you are challenging?" he asked teasingly. "This is Thalia of the house of – Thalia, no!"

The origin of Percy's last words was based on that the young princess in that exact moment decided to act. Firmly she thrust her sword forward aiming for Annabeth's heart. Reflexively Annabeth jumped aside, but could not completely avoid the blade. With a rending noise the edge cut through her tunic and cool metal kissed her skin. Red droplets of blood fell to the floor.

"So, Princess is feeling brave tonight?" Annabeth snarled. "You'll regret that."

The only answer she got was Thalia's quick grin that clearly indicated that she wished the other woman a painful death. The feeling was mutual, Annabeth thought with growing irritation.

With her right hand she palmed her second dagger. She circled around her opponent and saw with growing amazement how the princess followed closely, nimble as a cat.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked, and immediately followed the question with an attack that would have left any other opponent with their stomachs on the floor. Thalia however parried easily, but she also had the advantage of holding a sword in her hand.

"Shouldn't you know that?" became the princess's reply. She made a diversion and managed to give Annabeth a shallow wound on the right leg. Annabeth hissed, but did not show any other signs of pain. "I am Thalia," the princess continued, undisturbed. "The first female warrior in his Majesty's Guard and unbeaten winner of the country tournament. Who are you?"

Annabeth was in a state of shock. Was this _the_ Thalia? The Thalia who had defeated five warriors only armed with two daggers? The Thalia who had overpowered her own cousin in a swordfight? Annabeth's dagger fell to the ground with a clatter when she released it with stiff fingers. She saw the other woman prepare for a final fatal blow. The sword glittered like ripples on a water surface after a pebble been dropped into the water, and the blade sang when it cleaved the air.

Annabeth was not afraid of Death, she had been staring it in the face far too many times and often encountered the cruelty of humans to be afraid of the dark god. No, she not afraid of Death, she was afraid of what laid behind it. The unknown, the unexplored darkness, the dark god's realm of shadows.

She closed her eyes.


	5. Killer

Chapter 5

Killer

Instead of the searing pain that Annabeth had prepared herself for there was a loud ringing sound when Percy parried his cousin's sword with his own blade, which had been only a few seconds ago was safely sheathed by his side.

"Percy !" Thalia hissed indignantly. "By all the gods, what are you doing?!"

Percy gently removed his sword from his cousin's blade, but was also watching her closely. Thalia took the hint and withdrew her own sword with a disgruntled snort.

"So," she said venomously. "You have spared our killer. What now?"

Annabeth held her breath, her fate lay in the hands of the mighty warrior before her. Percy looked at her for a long time. Eventually it was Annabeth who turned her gaze away from his swirling green eyes.

"Do what you want with me," Annabeth said in a low voice. "I did not know you were the targets my employer had picked out."

Thalia snorted once again. "What does it matter to you, _killer_?" she said angrily. "You kill for money. You have no honor, nothing. You cannot create, you do not deserve to live. But my cousin here obviously sees something I don't. But know this, "Thalia leaned forward, and Annabeth shuddered when she heard the words the second woman was whispering "If it were me, I would be more than happy to see you dead." She pulled back. "Beware killer," she said. "You have an enemy."

"That is enough." It was Percy who had finally deigned to speak. Thalia threw one last icy look at Annabeth, but listened to her cousin and took a step back. Percy turned to Annabeth again, and looked at her with an inscrutable gaze. "Speak," he finally said. And so, Annabeth spoke.


	6. Perspective

Chapter 6

Perspective

"I do not kill for money alone," Annabeth said. "I need it."

"Don't we all," Thalia said, but was silenced by Percy's burning stare. Annabeth looked coolly at the princess.

"It is not all who are fortunate enough to be born into a wealthy and powerful family, Princess," she said quietly. "You learn to take what you need from where I come from. There are no rules." Annabeth fingered her belt, and the next words she said seemed to be squeezed out of her with difficulty. "However, I was indeed lucky. My family came from the wealthier neighborhood of Olympus, and I was the only child in a noble family. "

"Which one?" Percy inquired after a few seconds of silence. Annabeth clenched her jaw, but then shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to lessen the impact her mother's name would do to the pair of cousins in front of her. It did not matter if he knew, if either of them found out the truth. She had cut ties with her family many years ago. She shifted her footing.

"Athena," she said quietly.

Thalia gasped. "But she's -"

"The king's adviser and daughter, yes I know." She let loose a humorless laughter with her eyes stubbornly directed at the floor. "I'm her daughter, and I was expected to act ... act in a particular way." Annabeth shook her head. "They wanted me to be someone that I'm not. As the rest of the house of Olympus. She stared up angrily and met a pair of green eyes. "I am who I am, not a killer. A person. And I'm not going to find myself content in decisions being taken that are affecting me without my consent." Annabeth took a deep breath. She had never told her own story to anyone else, except for Luke.

Her friend, her foe. Her mentor.

She felt a single tear try to sneak past the corner of her eye, and swept it away with an angry gesture.

"What did they do to you?" It was Percy who asked, and Annabeth noted, to her surprise, a hint of anger in his question.

"They tried to marry me off to a stranger," she replied. "I was younger then, and they had chosen a suitable husband. Suitable for them. He would strengthen their name, give them more power. Nobody cared about what I had to say. What was I? A stupid fifteen-year-old girl who didn't know what the real decision were." She laughed, and the two royals looked at her. "They did not expect me to run away. Sneak away the night before my wedding." She smiled. "I was a disgrace. The boy's family broke off contact with mine. They said they had never been more insulted in their lives and that their son deserved better than a simple girl that had only just become a woman." Annabeth shrugged. "To be honest, I believe that my betrothed was relieved too." To Annabeth's surprise, Thalia laughed at this. Under other circumstances, Annabeth thought, she'd probably have been a friend of herself.

"What happened?" Annabeth's grin quickly faded.

"My family disowned me and pretended that I'd never existed," she said flatly. "Every trace of me was burned. To them, I was not alive anymore. At first, they issued a reward to anyone who could bring me home again. As if I was an animal, or a lost item." She snorted in disgust. "They quickly understood that it did not help." A wry smile cut through her face. "So they officially threw me out and put a price on my head instead. That was five years ago. I have tried to gather enough money to get away, leave the country. It has gone well. I had earned the amount of money my trip would require when my friend was suddenly injured. I had to pay for medical help, otherwise he would have died. I do not regret it, but it meant that I was back at square one. No money, no plans. This mission would have given me the money I needed to get back for what I'd lost. And that's it, now you know." Annabeth paused. She glanced at the two cousins who stared back at her with incomprehensible eyes. In the end, it was she who broke the silence when it became clear that they would not say anything. "I will not kill you," she said in a firm voice. Thalia muttered angrily.

"As if you could."

Annabeth looked at Percy. "I will not kill you," she repeated. He fingered on his sheath, and the faint light played on the blade's pommel and made it look like frozen crystals. Percy brushed a strand of his jet-black hair to the side and looked at Annabeth. His face revealed nothing of his intentions, something Annabeth– who considered herself an expert at reading people – thought was quite uncomfortable.

"What I wonder," he murmured softly, "Is what you _will_ do."

Just like that he handed over his fate into Annabeth's two bloodstained hands. How easily she could silence the young princess, and how quickly she could put out the light shining in the prince's eyes. So easily done, and so easily it had been done several times before. Yet, she hesitated.

In the prince's eyes Annabeth glimpsed a future kingdom, a kingdom she might be welcome to.

A kingdom, a world that would be better than the one currently existing. He had the will to rearrange that cruelty ruling the heart of so many, and Annabeth found herself thinking that she did not want to be the one extinguishing such a hope. But why would she care, really? She didn't know the young man in front of her. She did not know the princess at his side. She owed them nothing.

So easily it could be done, the kill. The final kill, and then she would be able to run and never look back again. Yes, so easily it could be done, and so easily it had been done before. Yet, she hesitated.

"I'll help you escape," was her final words.


	7. Friends, Old and New

Chapter 7

Friends, Old and New

"This is a bad idea," Thalia gasped as she hung from the balcony's railing. Annabeth glared angrily at the other woman. Although the princess hung four stories up in the air, and was pale in her face of fear, she still managed to maintain some of her arrogance. It annoyed the assassin to madness.

"Did you perhaps have a better idea, Princess? I can't help that you're afraid of heights. It was either my option or yours, as I may point out was useless and stupid. To try to fight our way out of the castle, and then break out through the gate." Annabeth snorted. "We wouldn't even get halfway to the gates before we were discovered. Sneaking out through the windows and then descend directly to the courtyard means that we will not be as easily detected. It was the best alternative."

Thalia muttered a colorful curse. Annabeth only smiled grimly. "The same, Princess," she murmured before she let go of the tiny railing and let herself fall over the edge.

* * *

"I hate you," Thalia said grimly. She was dressed in a worn out black cloak that hid her well-known traits. On her right was her cousin, wrapped in a similar attire. He pushed gently on his cousin and gave Annabeth a smile.

"She doesn't mean it," he said apologetically.

"If I do," Thalia said. "She is a real -"

"She said that she hated me throughout my whole childhood," Percy interrupted. "See where I am now."

Annabeth looked at him critically, and his green eyes smiled at her. "Not dead?" she finally said. Thalia gave a snorting laugh, and Percy looked amused at his cousin.

"You know," he said. "I think that she has started to warm up to you."

Annabeth only shook his head and motioned for them to follow her. "I have a friend who lives here," she said quietly and looked around carefully. "He can help us."

"Does he have the same profession as you, perhaps?" Thalia asked innocently. Annabeth did not deign to respond. The only reaction of Thalia's question was a tension between Ananbeth's shoulders, barely visible under the mantle's concealing folds, and how she barely noticeably started to walk faster. "You?"

Annabeth whirled around and Thalia almost walked into her before she could stopped.

"No!" she said sharply. "And you!" She pointed accusingly at Thalia. "You have absolutely no right to judge me. I did what anyone would have done to survive. What you would have done! Do you think I want to kill? Do you think I would have chosen it if I had had any choice? My _choice_ was taken away from me! "

"I have never- I did not mean to-" Annabeth looked at her, then turned around abruptly and raced past Percy with an indifferent look.

"You ..." he began.

"We're here," Annabeth snapped and opened a door. She stepped inside with confident steps and did not wait to see if her companions would follow. Percy hesitated, but then stepped in through the opening with his cousin closely behind.

* * *

"Be ready," Annabeth whispered while she quietly stalked along the walls of the darkened hall. A musty smell was in the air and made it difficult to breathe. Lumber was scattered in various places like the person who lived there decided to rearrange the furniture, and then stopped halfway. Percy shuddered.

"I thought you said that your friend was staying here," Thalia said.

"He is," was Annabeth's response. She went ahead and carefully stepped over a plank covered in soot.

"If he's your friend, why should we sneak in?"

Annabeth swept aside a curtain and held it up for Percy to come through, who in turn let it go on his cousin. Fine clouds of dust sprinkled down and covered her hair, so that it adopted a light gray color. Thalia coughed irritably, and Annabeth gave Percy an appreciative glance.

"We sneak in to my friend becasue he probably knows that I've taken with me ... guests, in lack of a better words."

"How does he know that?"

Annabeth swept her eyes over the room they'd just entered, before she turned her gaze toward the princess. "Because he's smart." Annabeth said in a way that clearly indicated that she thought it was a trait that Thalia did not have. "He has probably posted someone on guard." She gestured with her hand towards the door they'd just come in through. "Probably someone on the street that he pays to warn him if any intruders are approaching. During normal circumstances, I would not have set off alarms if I'd come alone. But with you people with me "She shook her head. "He does not know you, probably does not know what he will do with you. So he lets us enter, but has probably set a number of traps to test your skills."

Annabeth walked briskly into the middle of the empty, dimly lit room, and Percy resisted the urge to grab her arm and pull her back. She was probably more comfortable in the small apartment than him, and would probably threaten him with her dagger if he suggested that it could be dangerous to just walk into a seemingly empty room. But despite all this, Percy wanted to seize the assassin and pull her back from the invisible threat, he thought he sensed.

Annabeth gestured discreetly to them that it was safe to come out. But as soon as Percy set foot inside the dim room, he quickly felt that something was wrong. It was at that moment that he discovered the dark figure standing behind Annabeth, a figure her body had previously covered.

He cursed his own vision, and the shadows in the treacherous darkness that led him to assume that the dark shape he had glimpsed previously only was something of the rubble they passed in the hall. He now saw that Annabeth was standing stiffly, which was becasue of the knife Andrey glimpsed and that reflected his own reflection, however, slightly blurred and twisted. The knofe that currently was directed at Annabeth's back.

It was also at that moment Percy's whole world turned upside down, quite literally. His cousin's scream rang in his ears, and his sword fell to the floor as he was lifted into the air.


	8. Indifference

Chapter 8

Indifference

"So ..." said their unknown captor. "Annabeth sweetie, you have gone careless."

The man took a step forward and forced Annabeth to move too. She had a strained expression on her face, and a tension in her gray eyes. Despite the clear disadvantage she was in, she allowed herself a muffled laugh. Casually, she changed her footing and slowly raised her hand to her head. The man reacted as expected. He pressed the knife harder against Annabeth's neck, but then relaxed when Annabeth deliberately ignored the sharp edge and instead twisted one of her blond curls around her finger.

"Sweetheart?" she said, almost as if she was talking to herself. "So we are back at square one? I noticed that your style has faltered over the years." She cocked her head, fired away a sweet smile towards the man. "Covering your sweet face with a hood?" she said displeased. "You really have no finesse, Luke."

"Luke?"

Only now was Thalia's voice heard, which Annabeth thought was a minor miracle. She thought she would have open her big mouth sooner or later. She had only hoped for later rather than sooner.

"Luke," Thalia repeated. "As in Luke Castellan?"

"The one and only," Luke said and have a mocking bow.

"Hold on a minute now," Annabeth said. "Do you two know each other?"

"You could say that," Luke said, while Andrea at the same time hissed: "Not at all!"

Luke finally stepped out of the shadows and withdrew his hood that had previously covered his face. He withdrew his knife, after he gave Annabeth a warning glance clearly saying that she would not try any tricks. Annabeth only rolled her eyes in reply.

"Can you let down my friends?" she asked lightly, while she at the same time critically observed the two cousins. The prince, she noted with glee, had turned a bright red color in the of having upside down for too long.

Luke nodded subtly. A snap could be heard when the heavy ropes were cut and fell with its burdens to the floor. In a moment Thalia was on her feet. She had not bothered to help her cousin who still lay in a sad heap on the floor.

"Now, now," Luke said and retreated a couple of steps when Thalia herself approached him with a murderous light shining in her blue eyes. "I don't know how you came in contact with Annabeth here, but I'd never have thought that we would run into each other again. After ..." Luke hesitated, and then gently said: "After what happened. Consider it Thalia. It is the wish of the Fates. They want ..."

"Wish!" Thalia snarled. She bristled like a lioness, and came closer to Luke who only now realized that beautiful words and gestures did not help much with the young princess. "I'll tell you what I want, you lying worm! Your traitor!" Thalia pointed accusingly at Luke with such authority one constantly being surrounded by power could achieve. Meanwhile, Annabeth sneaked over to Percy who had succeeded in freeing both of his legs from the rope that had previously bound them, and warily looked around for his sword.

"There is no use," she whispered to him. She bent down, pretending she was only helping him to get up. "Luke disarmed all of us the moment you stepped into the trap. His minions are probably somewhere near." She took a couple of steps backwards, and at the same time tucked some stray strands of her golden hair behind her ear. Percy gave her a strange look, and opened his mouth as if he was about to say something. Before he could voice his thoughts, a sharp bang was heard. Annabeth crouched down instinctively and looked hastily for the source of the noise. The sight that greeted her made her straighten up again, and laugh for herself. There was no doubt that Luke and the princess had met before. Annabeth had noticed the tension that had occurred between those two in a matter of seconds. That they had parted ways was easy to figure out, and it seemed that the princess had not been very happy about it, given the scene she now performed. Shocked, Luke held his hand in front of his face when Thalia's other shoe came flying against him in an arc. Just barely in time Luke managed to duck, and the show made contact with the wall behind him with a sharp bang. A fine cloud of dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.

"Annabeth!" Luke crouched down once more when another flying projectile aimed at him crashed against the dirty wall. This time it was the princess's necklace that probably was worth more than the house all present persons were currently standing in. "She's your responsibility! She can't just run around like any simple whore and – UMPH!"

"Neat," Annabeth said appreciative. Thalia threw contemptuously her head but Annabeth sensed the small smile the princess gave her. "If I may ask." Samantha looked at the Thalia. She had shrunk down a little, as if she knew exactly what her next question would be. "What will you do with him now?" She nodded slightly at Luke's unconscious form, lying limp and useless on the dirty floor. Gratefully and somewhat surprised Thalia looked at the other woman, then she grinned dangerously.

"I really don't know," she said nonchalantly.

"We have to take him with us of course."

Annabeth squinted thoughtfully at Percy who had finally managed to get up from the floor. His hair had a veil of dust over him so that he looked ten years older than he actually was. "We could just leave him here," Annabeth suggested. "Bind him and plug his mouth shut. He wouldn't get out of here." She smiled darkly. "Especially not if it's me making the knots."

Percy already waved dismissively with his hand. "No," he said. He walked over to Luke's body and poked at him a little with his foot, as if to make sure that he was really unconscious. Thalia looked mildly offended. "We have to take him. There are too many risks with just leave him here. Some of his minions, who judging from the lack of sound ran away, could come at any second and release him. Or he will release himself. We already have the King's forces after us, we do not need the whole city's petty thieves and scum chasing our heels too."

Thalia looked like an incarnation of a thunderstorm. "No way I go somewhere, anywhere, with - that!" she shouted and pointed with disgust at Luke. "We are not taking him!" She looked angrily at her cousin, who in turn threw up his arms. But not in defeat.

"Why?" he said angrily. "Don't be stupid Thalia. You are well aware of the risks of leaving him. We can't ignore our security just because you have some kind of personal bond with him, which I for all in the world, couldn't even imagine you had!"

"Annabeth!"

"Huh? What?" Annabeth, who did not at all expect to be spoken to about this issue looked at the two cousins. They were weirdly similar, although they differed in many ways. Dark hair on both that never seemed to want to lie flat down, but always stood out in either a charming tousled way, or in dangerous spikes. Clear eyes, which even though were different colors were electric, and easily darkened when they were angry. Which they were right now, Annabeth noted with no little sense of dread. At that moment the two cousins also wore similar expressions of anger, stubbornness and a desire to convert Annabeth, who only now realized that she had no choice, at their own side. Annabeth drew a breath, and looked at the two of them. She did not want to take a position, did not actually want to fight for something she did not even believe. But she did it anyway. With a nod of her head, she began to walk towards the exit, followed closely by the princess who was boiling with anger. But she knew she was defeated. Annabeth shut out the sound of Percy's light groan when he lifted up Annabeth's old master, and instead looked for their hidden weapons. She avoided the princess's eyes when she gave her her sword. Thalia took it coldly. With an indifferent glance at Percy she passed him in the corridor, and then stepped out into the city, now colored red in the light of dawn.


End file.
